Distinguishing Intractable Pain Patients from Drug Addicts
By Joel S. Hochman, MD
http://bit.ly/IPvsAddict
Maybe one of you will better understand what appears to me to be nothing but an excuse to keep pain patients from getting their meds. It seems to me that fear of Diversion is a poor excuse for denying legitimate pain patients access to opioids, especially when nothing else works. The DEA has NO AUTHORITY to regulate medicine, they can only go after a doctor if (s)he prescribes "outside of medical practice", meaning that they were intentionally writing prescriptions that were not intended to treat a legitimate medical condition. Unfortunately, doctors don't decide which doctors are prescribing in the "due course of medical practice", and neither do any other medical professionals. DEA agents (glorified cops) and prosecutors make these decisions. They've scared doctors to the point where the doctors have started to lie to their patients in order to reduce the number of controlled substances (especially opioids) that they prescribe.
My biggest question is this....
If physicians can distinguish so easily between addicts and legitimate pain patients (which I do believe that they can), why is it that the DEA can't tell the difference between prescriptions to legitimate patients and prescriptions written to addicts?
-Steve